Before the words had fully left his mouth, Nightmare Douluo's figure appeared before Lin Xiao, his withered palm striking toward Lin Xiao's face.
At this point, Lin Xiao no longer held back. He raised his left arm, a layer of silver light glowing upon it. A metal shield instantly formed in front of him, only to transform into a sharp blade in the blink of an eye, slashing toward Nightmare Douluo's wrist.
Nightmare Douluo retracted his wrist, and Lin Xiao seized the opportunity to widen the distance between them. Looking up, his gaze sharpened.
Nightmare Douluo's intentions were now crystal clear—his goal was to seize Lin Xiao's body.
If Nightmare Douluo had directly invaded his sea of consciousness, Lin Xiao wouldn't have been particularly worried. But seeing the current situation, it was evident he intended to kill Lin Xiao first and then do something to his corpse. This meant Lin Xiao would have to face a Titled Douluo head-on.
"Soul bone?" Nightmare Douluo looked at Lin Xiao's arm, his tone tinged with uncertainty and intrigue. "Of course, with a hundred-thousand-year soul ring, how could you not have a soul bone? You're making me like you more and more, my dear disciple."
Lin Xiao had no intention of responding. With a wave of both hands, metal spheres shot out from his storage soul tool, landing on the ground and transforming into soul tool cannons.
Nightmare Douluo glanced at them. The cannons were made entirely of silver-gray metal, with faint star-like glimmers emanating from within. But before he could examine them closely, the cannons rotated, obstructing his view.
Retracting his gaze, Nightmare Douluo let out a soft chuckle. "My dear disciple, you don't think these soul tool cannons can affect a Titled Douluo, do you?"
Lin Xiao remained silent. With a wave of his arm, the soul tool cannons seemed to come alive, constantly adjusting their positions. An indescribable connection formed between them, and beams of light shot into the air, converging into a single pillar of light that surged toward Nightmare Douluo.
Though he was a Titled Douluo, Nightmare Douluo was, after all, a mental attribute soul master, and his physical strength couldn't compare to other Titled Douluo. Seeing the pillar of light bearing down on him, he instinctively dodged.
To his surprise, without any visible action from Lin Xiao, the soul tool cannons moved on their own, redirecting the pillar of light to pursue him in his new position.
"Boom—"
At the last moment, Nightmare Douluo evaded the attack with the speed of a Titled Douluo, but a tear appeared in his clothing, revealing scorched, withered skin beneath.
Looking at the soul tool cannons again, he saw their six mechanical legs shifting, repositioning for the next attack.
"What kind of soul tool is this? Even Illustrious Virtue Hall doesn't have such technology!" Nightmare Douluo's tone shifted, and for some reason, he recalled the look in Lin Xiao's eyes back in the underground hall of the branch.
Lin Xiao knew Illustrious Virtue Hall's research better than Nightmare Douluo and was well aware that achieving this level of technology with soul tools alone was impossible at present.
His self-propelled soul tool cannons weren't entirely soul tools. They were equipped with the world's first alloy he had forged, Star Soul Ingot—a metal naturally capable of containing mental power and souls.
The soul power for these cannons came from internal energy-storing soul tools, but their control came from the remnant souls embedded within the Star Soul Ingots.
Aiming at targets, timing attacks, and controlling firepower, things that soul tools alone couldn't accomplish, were handled by the remnant souls Lin Xiao manipulated.
In a sense, these were no longer mere soul tools but akin to an army of soul engineers. The weak remnant souls, which could only disrupt an opponent's mind, now played a far greater role with these soul tools.
What Nightmare Douluo faced wasn't the soul tools he disdained but an unconventional soul tool legion. This was the true harvest of Lin Xiao's two years at Illustrious Virtue Hall.
Meanwhile, Lin Xiao's movements didn't pause despite Nightmare Douluo's moment of shock. Manjusaka flowers swirled around him, and seven soul rings—black, black, black, black, black, black, and red—rose simultaneously. In the next instant, the seventh soul ring erupted with dazzling blood-red light.
The oppressive aura of a hundred-thousand-year soul ring spread out, involuntarily drawing Nightmare Douluo's attention.
Facing a Titled Douluo, even one as relatively weak as Nightmare Douluo, Lin Xiao held nothing back.
Seventh soul skill, Martial Soul True Body—
In an instant, the ground was blanketed by a sea of flowers. The vibrant blooms exuded no trace of life, only an icy stillness that spread outward.
Lin Xiao's robes fluttered without wind, his eyes turning a mix of deep blue and blood-red. Standing amidst the flowers, the surrounding Higanbana tilted slightly toward him, as if bowing in reverence.
His third and fifth soul rings lit up simultaneously, and the sea of flowers visibly grew and expanded…
Surging soul power radiated outward, disrupting the surrounding air and stirring chaotic winds. Countless narrow petals drifted down, completely burying Nightmare Douluo's figure.
However, Lin Xiao's expression remained far from relaxed. Even the weakest Titled Douluo possessed a soul core, and a body capable of withstanding a soul core wouldn't be easily defeated by such an attack.
"Cough—truly worthy of being my good disciple, cough—thinking that soon I'll possess such power is truly exhilarating," Nightmare Douluo's voice came again. As the petals slowly cleared, his figure reappeared before Lin Xiao.
His cloak was now tattered, revealing his withered skin clearly. Some areas bore visible wounds, but no blood flowed from them, as if he were a dried corpse rather than a living human.
Lin Xiao's expression didn't change, the blood-red hue in his eyes intensifying. His first soul ring glowed brightly, sending streams of dark red light toward Nightmare Douluo. At the same time, the soul tool cannons on the ground launched a new wave of attacks.
"My dear disciple, you're not the only one with a soul bone—"
Before Nightmare Douluo finished speaking, his figure vanished from the spot. All the attacks missed their target, landing in space, while an inexplicable chill rose in Lin Xiao's heart.
With no time to react, his sixth soul ring lit up almost instantly, and a golden barrier unfolded from his clothing. It was the soul tool Xu Tianran had given him, and with his seventh soul ring, he could finally unleash its full power.
Yet, against a Titled Douluo, the golden barrier seemed fragile, quickly developing cracks.
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